Inflatable playing ball construction



Filed Feb. 19, 1937 INVENTOR.

,an inflatable bladder and a leak-proof valve stricting bands g and h. The band 9 serves to .out, and which accordingly may be called a lacevide additional constricting means to prevent Patent d Oct. 25,1938 g 2,134,634

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INFLATABLE PLAYING mu.

consrnucnon mm Goldsmith, Cincinnati, om. alsignor to The P. Goldsmith Sons Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application February 19, 1937, Serial No. 1%.881 Claims. (01. 273-65) My invention relates toinflatable playing balls Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a portion of a and to the valve and bladder assembly associated playing ball showing one preferred method of with the outer cover of the playing ball. mounting the valve and bladder within the cover.

it is the object of my invention to provide an Fig.- 3 is a sectional view showing a modified inflatable playing ball construction in which type of valve and bladder mounting in a differ-. 5 panels form the outer cover of the ball in which ent type of playing ball. an inflatable resilient bladder composed of mate- 1 Like reference characters are employed to inrial such as rubber is so mounted within the dicate like parts in the several flgures of the cover that the bladder may be inflated through drawing. In Fig. 1, the valve has a solid stem a,

a small hole in one of the panels of the cover, provided with a thin flange b, and a projecting m the mounting cover construction and arrangenipple c. Extending from the nipple c there is ment being such that the opening in the cover a slit e, preferably formed by a thin, very sharp is sealed against leakage into the space between kniiewhich extends down through the stem to a the cover and bladder, and in which the valve position where it intersects a transverse slit 7,

itself is leak-proof. close to the innermost end of the valve stem.

Another object of my invention is to provide Surrounding he t m a are the resili nt contherefor which may be assembled either with the compress the valve stem to prevent leakage ball having panels. uniformly stitched throughthrough the slit e and the band It serves to proless ball, or for use in connection with balls, the leakaget W be noted that the bend i5 stitch line between panels or which is provided l h y l n er than he n a so h the lower with an inflating opening. end of the outer resilient band extends down A further object is the provision of a playing over the lower edge of the inner band 9, thereby ball construction which may also be used in comsealing the inner band 9 from any contact with bination with a cover formed by stitched segt us preventing oxid and deterioraments of fabric on the outer surface of which 11 1 h u panels of leather or the like may be secured by The fl p a th inner end 0! the Valve Stem cementing. yields downwardly to the'position indicated in It isa further object of my invention to prodotted lines at I when an inflating tool is inso vide an inflatable bladder and valve assembly serted down through the slit e, guided thereto by which will be available for use with a playing ball, the passage in the nipple. the cover of which is socomposed as to present Referring now to the mounting of the valve on a smooth contoured surface throughout, and the bladder and the mounting of the bladder which may therefore be called not only laceless within the cover, an opening 9' is provided in the but stitchlem. bladder in which the stem of the valve is in- In combination with the panel of a laceless erted 0r vu c z d in place Adhesive as ball it is an object of my invention to provide an cated at k is app e to the under Surface of the inflatable bladder so mounted with relation to a flange!) and the W l f the bladder is y small aperture in one of the panels that there is secured thereto. no deflection from the even contour of the outer .In Fig. 2, the cover panels of the playing ball cover of the ball because of the valve assembly are indicated at 1. Permanent stitching as shown and mounting. at m secures the panels of the cover together in It is a further object of my invention to proa substantially leak-proof manner, the applica vide a valve having additional safe guards to tion of water-proofing material to the stitched prevent leakage either through the valve opening seams rendering the cover substantially wateror around the mounting for the valve. proof. An aperture 11 in the cover seats the nip- The above objects and other specific objects pie c-of the valve and adhesive as indicated at to which reference will be made in the ensuing 1 is applied which permanently seals the upper surdisclosure, I accomplish by that combination and face of the flange to the inside of the cover with arrangement of parts of which I have illustrated the nipple c, lying within and not substantially a preferred modification. projecting beyond the opening n. The nipple Referring to the drawing: s I thus serves for properly locating the bladder, and Figure 1 represents a sectional view of the iinguiding the valve stem, and the flange on the proved valve. valve cements the bladder and ball cover together.

The cementing of the valve flange to the cover and the cementing of the valve flange to the bladder makes a substantially leak-proof joint.

In Fig. 3, the cover panels may be cemented in 5 position on an inner fabric ball 1). The lining may be of fabric panels permanently and uniformly stitched throughout with the outer cover panels cemented in position without stitching. The lining is, like the leather cover, susceptible to adhesive. In this type of playing ball I may provide an additional reenforcement which consists in the flexible disc a which is of greater extent than theflange b; Preferably made of rough surfaced leather, adhesive as indicated at r is provided on the upper surface of the flange q, and adhesive as indicated at s is provided on the under 5 surface, so that whereas the attachment of the valve flange to the cover where the ball is unlined is adequate where the diameter of the disc is, for example, one and one-half inches, when a fabric inner ball is used covered with leather panels, the attachment is provided by a disc, for example, three inches in diameter. It will be observed that in the construction shown in both Figs. 2 and 3, the contour of the panel of the cover is in no way disturbed by the attachment of the valve flange thereto. This promotes accurate bouncing of the playing ball and avoids the formation of a non-resilient dead spot where the 80 attachment of the valve, bladder and cover ocours.

The valve and bladder assembly in some types of balls constitutes the entire ball, the cover being formed by the outer wall of the bladder 35 which is either coated with fabric material or the bladder is so dimensioned as to thickness and so treated that the outer cover of the bladder forms the outer cover of the ball. The valve and bladder assembly may also be employed-with other in- 40 flatable articles. a

I have shown my invention in combination with a playing ball of the laceless type, but it will be understood that the same construction may be used in combination with a laced ball, with a ball 45 having an inflating opening in the seam and with a so-called stitchless ball in which the outer cover is formed of segments of leather cemented in position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. A valve for an inflatable article having a wall with an opening through which a stem of said valve extends said stem having a flange secured to said wall, said stem having a slit extending lengthwise therethrough for inflating aid article, a resilient band surrounding said stem for sealing said slit and means covering said resilient band and additionally constricting said band for preventing deterioration of the resiliency of said band.

2. A valve for an inflatable article having a wall with an opening through which a stem of said valve extends saidstem having a flange secured to said wall, said stem having a slit extending lengthwise therethrough for inflating said article, a resilient band surrounding said stem for sealing said slit and means covering said resilient band for preventing deterioration of the resiliency of said band, said means comprising a relatively wider resilient band covering both ends of said first noted band.

3. A valve for an inflatable ball comprising a stem having a slit extending through said stem and a resilient band surrounding said stem with resilient means surrounding and enclosing said band for the purposes described.

4. A valve for an inflatable ball comprising a slitted stem with a tensioned band compressing said stem to prevent leakage through said slit, and means enclosing said band and constricting it for preventing oxidation and deterioration of said band. i

5. A valve for -an inflatable ball comprising a stem having a slit extending therethrough, a rubber band of a given width surrounding said stem and a second wider band surrounding and enclosing said first noted band.

HUGO GOLDSMITH. 

